Thank you for responding and trying to help me.
I have two bearded dragons. A male and a female. I will list and then answer your questions.
For the male, who is named Sweetie Pie. My three year old daughter named him. Cute name, huh? I haven’t really checked his sex out for myself yet by looking on the underside of his tail by the above the vent for the two areas sticking out, one on each side
How old is your dragon?
-The previous owner told me he is two years old.
How long have you had your dragon?
-I have had him for 11 days.
How long is your dragon?
He is about 16.5” long from tip of nose to tip of tail
What is the sex of your dragon?
Male
What size enclosure do you have your dragon in?
55 gallon tank-This is the same tank the previous owner had him in.
It is cracked on the right side. I would like to send you a picture of it, because I read somewhere that you should not have them in a cracked or broken tank.
What type substrate do you have on the bottom of your tank?
The previous owner said it is some kind of fossil rock. It looks like big pieces of shells on top and smaller pieces underneath. I would like to send you a picture of this as well. If he likes to dig, he certainly can’t do that in this substrate. Is it normal for a beardie to dig? My sister in law said she had a bearded dragon for a year and she kept him in corn cob substrate and he liked to bury in it at night. I have done research on substrates. Today, the lady at the pet store suggested Calci-Sand. But, I didn’t get it. I got Play Sand from Lowe’s instead. The bag says it has been screened, washed and dried. I haven’t put it in his tank yet. I also got him four 12” by 12” porcelain tiles to lay in the bottom of his tank, because I read that slate tiles are a good substrate. I just went and measured tank. It is 12” wide on the inside and 47” long on the inside. So, all four are not going to fit. I’m not sure if they will fit at all, actually. I may have to have Lowe’s cut their size down. They are still in my van.
Do you use UVB lights?
The previous owner had his tank by window and she said she would draw the curtains open during the day so he could get his UVB exposure. But I read somewhere that UVB rays can not go through windows. We have him by a window with blinds, and we keep the blinds open. But after I read that info. about UVB not going through windows, I went and bought a
UVB bulb-the day after I got him.
If so, Is it a coil, compact, fluorescent tube, or Mercury Vapor bulb?
It looks like a spiral to me.
What is the brand name and number of your bulb? Wattage (if MVB)?
Repti Glo 10.0 UVB by Exo Terra, 26W
How old is your
UVB bulb?
10 days old
How close can your dragon get to the UVB?
If he’s laying down on his basking log, about 7”
If he’s sitting up on his basking log, probably 6” (I’m guessing on that right now, because he’s laying down right now)
Also, the
UVB bulb is about 2” to the right of the right edge of his basking log.
Where should I have my UVB? Right now it is sitting to the right of my basking bulb (which is on the left side of the tank).
Do you use a separate basking bulb? What kind and what is the wattage?
Yes. The previous owner used flood lights. The day after bought him, I went out and bought a 75W bulb from pet store. It was called Sun Glo by Exo Terra, 75W. Yesterday, my son broke it. So, now I am using a flood light that the previous owner was using for one of the dragons. It is a flood light-65W.
The center of the light is 10” over the left edge of the basking log. Also, my dragon can probably get 6” close to the heat bulb ( I’m just guessing on that because he’s laying down on the log right now.) With him laying down as he is right now, the top of his head is 7” below the bulb and 2 ½” to the right of the bulb.
Both of my bulbs are in a silver dome looking thing and sitting on top of screen cover on my tank. The bulbs do touch the screen cover. Is this okay? I didn’t know if they would get too hot to be directly touching the screen cover.
What are the basking temps?
It has been reading 96 degrees.
What is the cool side temp?
Right now it is reading 76 degrees but I have had the lights off for two hours.
Do you take the temps with a stick on thermometer, a digital thermometer with a wire and a probe end or a temp gun?
At first I bought a round stick on thermometer, with like a hand like on a clock. But, I have read that those are not too accurate. So, I recently bought a Zilla (brand name) Battery-Operated Digital Thermometer from the pet store that has a 39” temperature probe (has a wire with probe on the end-I guess the wire is 39” long). I haven’t taken temps with this thermometer yet. I will do this tomorrow after the lights have been on for a few hours. I will take temps on both sides. On the basking side, I will take the temp on top of the basking log. On the cool side, I will take the temp on the top of the fossil rock on the right side of the tank.
Where exactly are you taking your basking temps?
on the back corner of the tank where the basking log is-to be more specific:
About 5-6” higher (the basking log slopes downward to the left as you are looking at the front view) and 1” to the left of the basking log
Do you use a heat rock or heat pad?
No. My husband is trying to get me to get a heat rock. But I read that is a big NO NO. I read that you are never supposed to use heat rocks with beardies. My husband said that a pet store he used to work in (probably about 20 years ago) used them for all of their reptiles. He has even suggested having like a big bowl or pile of rocks with the heat rock on the bottom covered of course by the other rocks.
What do you feed your dragon? Please be specific.
-On 6-6-09, the day I got him, I didn’t feed him anything, because the previous owner had already fed him some Rep-Cal Maintenance Formula Adult Bearded Dragon Food pellets that morning. She gave me these pellets, so these are the brand of pellets I’m feeding them. She told me he normally eats 4 a day, and sometimes 6.
-On 6-7-09, he only tried one bite of swiss chard (fed to him by hand)-ate it in morning, and then wouldn’t eat anymore of it. He didn’t eat any of the shredded carrots I had in a bowl for him(in the afternoon). He did eat 4 superworms( in the afternoon).
-On 6-8-09, He ate some pellets (in the morning), (I don’t remember the exact number, but at this point, I was not concerned yet that he was not eating enough.) He ate 4 superworms(in the afternoon).
-On 6-9-09, He only ate pellets (in the morning). (probably about 4). These were sprinkled with ReptoCal Powdered Nutritional Supplement. The bottle says it Includes Calcium and Vitamin D3.
-On 6-10-09, He ate 3 superworms (in the afternoon), green pepper-He ate 8 small pieces out of bowl (in the morning).
-On 6-11-09, He would not eat any of the pieces of apple in his bowl (in the morning). He ate 2 pellets with ReptoCal sprinkled on them (in the morning).
On 6-12-09, He refused to eat any pellets(in the morning). He ate 3 superworms (in the afternoon). He ate several bites of mustard greens (some fed to him by hand and he ate some from on top of his basking log) (at 10 pm at night). We left his lights on all night so he could digest his food. Then the lights stayed on the following day and evening until 10 pm. So, his lights were on for 24 hours straight. (But, normally I turn them off around 11 pm and turn them on again around 9-10 am)
On 6-13-09, He ate a little bit of mustard greens (in the morning).
On 6-14-09, He refused to eat any of the mustard or turnip green pieces in his bowl (in the morning). He also refused to eat any pellets (in the morning). Crickets-He ate 11 medium sized crickets (around 11:30 in the morning) that were dusted with a white powder that the previous owner said came with the Cricket Care kit she had gotten before. She said it was Calcium. The previous owner only gave him crickets once in a while as a treat. When I asked how often was that, she said whenever she went to town she would stop at a pet store and get them some, which really did not answer my question.
The girl at the pet store that I talked to today said that could be part of his problem-being fed more crickets at one time than he is used to getting)
On 6-15-09, He only ate two pellets (refused them in the morning, but finally ate them in the afternoon)-I had to handfeed him.
On 6-16-09, He ate 4 pellets and some mustard greens from on top of his basking log (refused them in the morning, but finally ate them in the afternoon).
On 6-17-09, He refused to eat any mustard greens (in the morning). He refused to eat any butternut squash pieces (in the morning) I left the veggies in his tank until afternoon. He ate 3-4 pellets from on top of his basking log (gave them to him at about 2 pm but he did not eat any of them until in the late afternoon, and the last one (which he ate at about 7:30 pm)he only ate because he was sitting on top of his basking log with his mouth open a little and his eyes closed and I stuck a pellet in there just to see what would happen and he opened his eyes and ate it).
I went to the pet store tonight. The girl said I shouldn’t get more crickets at this point-since he just had 11 on Sunday, and that I should wait several more days before giving him more crickets or worms. In the meantime, just give him pellets and veggies. What do you think about that?
I’m so worried because he looks skinny to me. There are times when his skin on both sides of his body looks wrinkled-like it’s not filled out enough because he’s too skinny) but then other times like when he’s napping that you can’t see the wrinkles.
I’ve noticed lately, (ever since I gave him his first
bath-which was 99 degrees) many times he has been sitting with his mouth open (a little bit) on his basking log.
How often do you feed and what time do you feed (morning, afternoon, night)?
mostly in the morning (9-11 am), but sometimes in the early afternoon (11 am-12 pm)and sometimes in the early evening (5-8 pm)
Do you gutload (feed) your crickets, worms, etc?
The previous owner gave me some brown powder that she said was cricket food. So, the one time he has eaten crickets since I’ve gotten him, I put a bowl of that in with the crickets about a day and a half before I fed them to him. I also put a spoon full into a bowl of that Cricket Quencher (yellow gel) which is Calcium fortified, which is the crickets’ source of water. The bottle says it offers a source of calcium for “gut-loading” insects prior to feeding them to your reptile.
I didn’t feed anything to the worms. They were in a container with some oats (looked like oat meal).
Do you use vitamin or calcium supplements? What brand(s)? How many days a week do you use each of them?
I do. I have ReptoCal and Rep-Cal Herptivite (multivitamins). I have put the Herptivite on his greens once, but that was a day he didn’t eat any of them.
ReptoCal on 6-9-09, 6-11-09 (so twice last week)
Repto Cal on 6-14-09 so far this week
Is your dragon having regular bowel movements (poops)?
I have read that beardies should poop every day and other places I have read that they should poop every 2-3 days. This is another area where I am concerned about him (and my female too for that matter). It was 5 days after I got him for him to poop for the first time (4 days for her). Then, he pooped again the next day (2 days after her first poop, my female pooped again, but that was on 6-12-09, and it has been five days since she last pooped.) He just pooped again today, which is 5 days since the last time he pooped. And his poop today was runny looking but it was brown.
Do you
bath your dragon? How often?
Yes, I gave him his first
bath 4 days after I got him (at 9:30pm). After his
bath, there was a little bit of his skin in the towel I used to pat dry him off with. After this
bath, is when I noticed his behavior of sitting on his basking log with his mouth open. I made sure to leave his lights on for several hours after his
bath.
I noticed more shedding (like 3 more pieces) in the bottom of his tank about a day and a half after 1st
bath
4 days after 1st
bath, I gave him another
bath. I think he peed in this
bath. Some stuff came out from under his tail. It looked white.) I scooped it out immediately with a cup.
Both times I gave him his
bath, the water temperature was 99 degrees.
Oh, and before I gave him his first
bath, I disinfected the tub with Clorox because it smelled like cat litter when I started filling it with water. (I think my cats had been walking around in there and still had cat litter on their feet). But, I rinsed it really well, I think.
Do you mist your dragon or offer water other than in the
bath?
I had a bowl of water in his cage from 6-7-09 to 6-11-09(which I changed daily) at which time I stopped putting bowls of water in his cage because I had read that it can mess up the humidity in the tank and that it is better to just mist your dragon every other day on their heads. Other articles have said make sure your dragon has a fresh bowl of water daily in his cage. So, I am confused about this. Some articles I have read have said to mist your dragon’s cage every day and others have said don’t. (also confusing)
I didn’t buy a water bottle until 6-12-09. I sprayed him the next morning.
I misted him again on 6-16-09.
The girl at the pet store thinks that this could be part of his problem -that he needs a water bowl in his tank to drink from when he wants to, that maybe he’s dehydrated., and that could be why he’s not pooping often or eating well.
Does your dragon share an enclosure with another dragon?
No. I have another bearded dragon, a female, but she is in another custom built tank in a different room than him. However, he can probably hear her moving around in her tank.
Have you gotten a vet check and fecal done?
No. The girl at the pet store today told me that there is only one vet around here that will treat reptiles and it is very expensive, like $600 if they have to do anything.
I am sorry that I wrote so much. I just wanted you to have as many details as possible.
I just want to be the best mom to my beardies that I can be. I have never had a lizard, so this is all new to me. However, I have been wanting a beardie for about 7 years. And, I got two of them at once. That I didn’t plan on, but the girl was selling both of them for one price.
Thank you for your help.
Ashley-
mom of 3 yr. old daughter Bethany, almost 2 yr. old son Landon, 2 cats (Sammie and Sasha), and 2 beardies (Sweetie Pie and Honey)
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